In the shadow of reason

From Weber's elective affinity to Baudrillard's fatalism

Bibliographic Data

ID2160504
AuthorsRebecca L Lee (0000-0001-8407-4565, corresponding author), Raymond L M Lee
Year1994
Volume23
Issue4
Pages387-399
Publication date1994-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomy and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03085149400000017
OpenAlexW2099915978
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited29

Both Weber and Baudrillard have been concerned with the influence of chance on social outcomes. Their interest in serendipity ties in with the postmodern problem of living with uncertainty and reflexively engaging with risk. However, Weber's interest as reflected in his idea of elective affinity focuses on meaning production as a vital component of non-causal connections, whereas Baudrillard's notion of fatalism is derived from a non-rational approach to the connection between cause and effect. This comparison reveals a tension between the understanding of chance in the world of interpretation and the irony of chance in the world of symbols.It poses a further question concerning the fate of reason in an unfolding contest between the sociology of postmodern and a postmodern fatal sociology

CONTEST · Dualism · Epistemology · Fatalism · Interpretation (philosophy · Irony · KISS (TNC · Meaning (existential · Postmodernism · Postmodernity · Psychoanalysis · Serendipity · Shadow (psychology · Sociology · Theology · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Cultural Studies and Postmodernism · Law in Society and Culture · Philosophy · Psychology

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